What is radiation ? What are the diffrences between the 3 types ?
In: Physics
“Radiation” can refer to any sort of travelling – for lack of better synonym – energy, including sound, particle, light, and gravity.
The three you’re likely thinking of is alpha, beta, and gamma:
Alpha is helium ions ejected from larger atomic nuclei at high velocity, which can knock around the molecules or whatever they hit very powerfully but can be stopped easily.
Beta is electrons ejected due to nuclear decay (as opposed to electrons ejected due to all sorts of other reasons) which can knock away other electrons from the molecules they hit and are slightly harder to stop.
Gamma is high energy x-rays/photons/light created by nuclear decay (as opposed to x-rays created by electrons) which are very hard to stop and can knock away electrons when you do so.
Latest Answers